Five Things You Can Do to Become a Happy, Positive, and Successful Person

These five strategies might sound simple, but they took me years to learn. Since adopting them, I’ve had a much happier, more positive, and more fulfilling life. There's nothing stopping you from adopting them, too.

1: I no longer tolerate toxic environments or toxic relationships. If I find myself in a negative environment or an unhealthy relationship, I leave. Our environments have the power to make us who we are—but we have the power to choose our environments. We must exercise this power wisely. As for relationships, there’s no need to hate anyone. If a relationship turns septic, don’t waste your time and energy getting angry. Just let go and move on.

2: I let go of self-doubt. If we doubt ourselves, we’ll never be able to improve our circumstances, enrich the lives of our loved ones, or make a meaningful impact on the world. Longevity research even suggests that happier, more positive people with higher self-esteem are likely to accomplish more and live longer lives—so be one of those people!

3: I now surround myself with people who love and support me. If we don’t have supportive people in our lives, we begin to feel isolated. We also take on too much because we feel that we have to take care of everything ourselves. On the other hand, if we have a supportive community, we can always ask for help when facing challenges that we don’t know how to navigate, and others can ask for help from us in turn. This makes everyone involved happier, more productive, and more resilient to hardship and adversity. Research backs this up, too.

4: I choose to do work that I love and enjoy. If you force yourself to do things that you find unfulfilling, you’ll be less productive, and what you do produce will be of lower quality. No one will benefit from these efforts, not even you. Either learn how to enjoy what you do to support yourself, or find a way to support yourself by doing what you love.

5: I manage my time and attend to the needs of my body and mind. If I wake up one day and don’t have the creative energy to do one task, I do something else instead, ideally something that uses a different part of my brain. Sooner or later, I always get back to the thing I put off, but I do not force myself. I do it when I’m ready. This always yields better results. If you work with your body and mind instead of working against them, not only will you do better work, but you’ll also feel more content throughout the day and sleep more deeply.

It’s never too late to learn new ways of being. I started late, in 2016, and caught up fast. You can, too!

Do you have comments, questions, or requests for future newsletters? Send them to [email protected].